Gamal Al-Ghandour

Gamal Mahmoud Ahmed Al-Ghandour ( _ar. جمال محمود أحمد الغندور) (born June 12, 1957) is a retired Egyptian referee.

Personal data

Height: 187 cm , Weight: 86 kg
Referee since: 1981
Egyptian 1st Division: 1989
FIFA Badge: 1993

Details

El-Ghandour has refereed the 2002 African Cup of Nations final (Cameroon vs Senegal), the second leg of the 2002 African Cup Winners' Cup final (Kotoko (Gha) 2:1 WAC (Mar)), and five successive African Cup of Nations, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, and 2002. He is the first African referee to run a match in the UEFA European Football Championship. He has also participated in one Olympic Games, one FIFA Confederation Cup (2001), and one AFC Asian Cup.

He also refereed in two FIFA World Cups, France 1998 and Korea/Japan 2002 [cite web
url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2002/06/23/sfwhay24.xml&sSheet=/sport/2002/06/23/ixwcup.html
title=Korean miracle spoilt by refereeing farce
accessdate=2006-12-14
date=2006-06-23
publisher=Telegraph] [cite web
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport3/worldcup2002/hi/matches_wallchart/spain_v_south_korea/default.stm
title=Korean dream lives on
accessdate=2006-08-06
date=2002-06-22
publisher=BBC Sport]

He is also the first Egyptian referee to play as a professional referee (Japanese League 1999)

Ghandour was involved in the controversial South Korea - Spain quarterfinals in the 2002 World Cup where he was responsible for a number of embarrassing decisions, including giving a goal kick to South Korea after Joaquín stopped the ball in front of the line, oh which led to the Spanish being denied two goals. Eventually Spain was beaten on penalties. The last penalty that Spain missed was also seen as controversial, Joaquín's shot was blocked by Lee Woon-Jae who stepped off his line before the ball was actually touched, breaking the rules, there was, however, no action taken. After the match there was international condemnation of the refereeing conduct and decisions [cite web
url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2002/06/23/sfwhay24.xml&sSheet=/sport/2002/06/23/ixwcup.html
title=Korean miracle spoilt by refereeing farce
accessdate=2006-12-14
date=2006-06-23
publisher=Telegraph] [cite web
url=http://www.japantoday.com/jp/news/220255
title=Japan concerned over poor refereeing at World Cup
accessdate=2007-11-18
date=2002-06-22
publisher=Japan Today] . Allegations were rife that the match was fixed, something that the FIFA officials brushed away. Ghandour was rumoured to have received a car from the FIFA vice-president Chung Mong-joon, a South Korean, in exchange for favouring the home side in the quarterfinals [cite web
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/low/football/africa/2740125.stm
title=Ghandour's memory lane
accessdate=2007-11-18
date=2003-02-08
publisher=BBC Sport] . These allegations prompted Ghandour to threaten legal action. Eventually Ghandour chose to end his illustrious career under a cloud of suspicion.

Ghandour also refereed in a controversial match between hosts UAE and Iraq in the 1996 Asian Cup. The UAE eventually won 1-0 after extra time, however many clear decisions went against the Iraqis, including a UAE defender punching the ball out of the area. The UAE faced Kuwait in the semi-final, with the Kuwaiti team having announced that they would withdraw had Iraq qualified.

International match list

Date	/	Match	/	Venue	Competition
24.07.1993	Uganda	1-0	Sudan	Kampala	African Cup of NationsQ 94
13.11.1994	Tunisia	1-1	Togo	Tunis	African Cup of NationsQ 96
24.08.1995	KSA	2-0	Syria	Ta'ef	Asian Olympic Q 96
16.01.1996	Gabon	1-2	Liberia	Durban	AfricanCup of Nations 96
21.01.1996	C.d'Ivoire	1-0	Mozambiqe	Port.Elz.	AfricanCup of Nations 96
31.01.1996	Ghana	0-3	S.Africa	Johannesberg	AfricanCup of Nations 96
03.03.1996	Zimbabwe	0-1	Nigeria	Harrari	African Olympic Q 96
16.06.1996	C.d'Ivoire	1-1	Congo	Abidjan	African World Cup Q98
01.07.1996	Sweden	0-2	China	Miami	WomenOlympics 96
02.07.1996	Brazil	3-1	Hungary	Miami	OlympicGames Atlanta 96
01.08.1996	Argentina	4-0	Spain	Bermengham	OlympicGames Atlanta 96
02.08.1996	Brazil	5-0	Portugal	Athens	OlympicGames Atlanta 96
17.11.1996	Angola	2-1	Zimbabwe	Luanda	African World Cup Q98
01.12.1996	KSA	6-0	Thailand	Dubai	Asian Cup of Nations96
02.12.1996	UAE.	1-0	Iraq	Abu Dhabi	Asian Cup of Nations96
03.12.1996	KSA	5-4	Iran	Abu Dhabi	Asian Cup of Nations96
08.06.1997	S.Africa	3-0	Zambia	Johannesberg	African World Cup Q98
17.08.1997	Zimbabwe	1-2	Cameroon	Harrari	African World Cup Q98
13.10.1997	KSA	1-0	Qatar	Ryadah	AsianWorld Cup Q 98
07.02.1998	B.Faso	0-1	R.D.Congo	WagaDogo	AfricanCup of Nations 98
27.02.1998	B.Faso	3-4	Cameroon	WagaDogo	AfricanCup of Nations 98
17.06.1998	Chile	1-1	Austria	St.Etian	WorldCup France 98
25.06.1998	Yugoslavia	1-0	USA.	Nant	WorldCup France 98
03.07.1998	Brazil	3-2	Denmark	Nant	WorldCup France 98
01.08.1999	Lebanon	3-1	Jordan	Amman	9th Panarab Games
02.08.1999	Iraq	4-0	Lebanon	Amman	9th Panarab Games
16.08.1999	Jordan	3-1	Qatar	Amman	9th Panarab Games
31.08.1999<;;;/font>	Jordan	3-1p	Iraq	; Amman	9th Panarab Games
09.10.1999	Slovenia	0-3	Greece	Maribor	EuropeanCup Nations Q 2000
23.01.2000	S.Africa	3-1	Gabon	Kumasi	AfricanCup of Nations 2000
31.01.2000	Ghana	0-2	C.d'Ivoire	Accra	AfricanCup of Nations 2000
10.02.2000	Nigeira	2-0	S.Africa	Lagos	AfricanCup of Nations 2000
13.06.2000	Norway	1-0	Spain	Rotterdam	EuropeanCup of Nations 2000
21.06.2000	Czech	2-0	Denmark	Liège	EuropeanCup of Nations 2000
06.01.2001	Egypt	2-1	UAE	Cairo	Friendly
15.01.2001	Tunisia	0-1	Morocco	Tunis	African Cup Qualifiers
15.01.2001	Egypt	1-0	N.Korea	Cairo	Friendly
27.01.2001	Nigeria	3-0	Sudan	Nigeria	African World Cup Q2002
25.02.2001	Cameroun	1-0	Zambia	Yaoundé	African World Cup Q2002
19.03.2001	Egypt	3-3	Estonia	Cairo	Friendly
30.05.2001	France	5-0	Korea	Seoul	FIFAConfederation Cup
07.06.2001	France	2-1	Brazil	Seoul	FIFAConfederation Cup
02.09.2001	Mexico	2-1	Jamaica	Jamaica	CONCACAF World Cup Q 2002
25.01.2002	Cameroon	1-0	C.d'Ivoire	Mali	AfricanCup of Nations 2002
30.01.2002	SouthAfrica	3-1	Morocco	Mali	AfricanCup of Nations 2002
10.02.2002	Cameroon	0-0p3/2	Senegal	Mali	AfricanCup of Nations 2002 Final
07.06.2002	Spain	3-1	Paraguay	Korea	WorldCup Korea/Japan 02
13.06.2002	Brazil	5-2	CostaRica	Korea	WorldCup Korea/Japan 02
22.06.2002	Korea	0-0p5/3	Spain	Korea	WorldCup Korea/Japan 02

Competition	Numberof Matches
World Cup	6
FIFA ConfederationCup	2
OlympicGames	4
	2
AfricanCup of Nations>	11
AsianCup of Nations	3
AsianWorld Cup Qualifiers	1
EuropeanCup Qualifiers	1
AsianOlympic Qualifiers	1
CONCACAFWorld Cup Qualifiers	1
AfricanCup Qualifiers	3
AfricanWorld Cup Qualifiers	6
AfricanOlympic Qualifiers	1
Pan ArabGames	4
Friendlies	3

References

External links

* [http://www.weltfussball.de/schiedsrichter_profil.php?id=1851 Profile]
* [http://www.angelfire.com/ak/EgyptianSports/Ghandour.html Gamal El-Ghandour]